Report: Navy gets approval to buy Hawaii Superferries

The second of two fast ferries built at Austal USA for client Hawaii Superferry Inc. is moved into drydock for its future launch on Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, in downtown Mobile, Alabama. (Press-Register/Mike Kittrell)

The report says, "A provision in the recently approved defense authorization bill will allow the transfer of the Huakai and the Alakai to the Navy, where they will become Department of Defense sealift vessels."

However, the report notes President Obama must first sign the bill.

Hawaii Superferry Inc. ordered Huakai and Alakai, 300-foot-long ferries that could hold more than 800 passengers and travel up to 35 knots, in 2004 under a $190 million contract.

The company planned to use them to ship people and goods around the different islands in Hawaii. But that state's Supreme Court effectively shut the service down in March 2009 when it ruled that a state law allowing the company to operate while an environmental study was being conducted was unconstitutional.

Two months later, the company filed for bankruptcy with $136.8 million outstanding on two Maritime Administration loans, and $22.9 million outstanding on a pair of loans from Austal, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.